The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday proposed new rules designed to protect air passengers. One would restrict serving peanuts. The restriction could work in one of three ways:
•Ban the serving of all peanut products on domestic flights and international flights to and from the United States
•Ban the serving of all peanut products on flights where a passenger with peanut allergy requests a peanut-free flight in advance
•Require a peanut-free buffer zone in the immediate area of the passenger with a documented severe allergy to peanuts if a peanut-free flight is requested

C'mon everyone, especially our American friends here, let's get writing in support of this measure. The peanut lobby killed a similar effort under the Clinton admin. So if you want to see even the minimum proposal here, we need your voice and support.

How likely it is that a passenger with a severe peanut allergy will suffer a reaction from peanut particles in the air on a flight? DOT Department of Transportation is interested in stories of serious in-flight medical problems from airborne peanut particles, as well as broader empirical data on the issue.

What steps should airlines have to take, if any, to avoid this danger? Would an epinephrine auto-injector, to allow immediate treatment of an allergic reaction, be sufficient? If so, should it be the responsibility of the airline, or the passenger, to provide it?

Should any food item containing peanuts be covered in a restriction, including e.g., peanut butter crackers and products containing peanut oil?

See what DOT Department of Transportation said on this issue: NPRM Section 12.

See the proposed rule text on this issue: DOT has not proposed specific text yet.

Peanut promoters are fuming. Koehler said he wouldn't fear for peanuts' future aloft if a decision was based on studies. "But some haphazard shotgun approach at government regulation, when it's the second time we've been through this, is a little absurd."

The divide, confuse and conquer strategy:

Quote:

American Peanut Council president Patrick Archer said any decision should "consider all food allergens that might affect passengers." He noted there are eight major food allergens: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy.

That is, true, technically. But peanut allergies are documented as extremely severe, the most likely to cause fatality, and it is peanuts that are being served in packets (or in Canada, tree nuts).

There have been three published studies looking specifically at self-reported reactions caused by peanuts/tree nuts during commercial flights2,3,4. These studies confirm that allergic reactions caused by accidental ingestion, skin contact, or inhalation have been reported to occur on commercial flights, and that some of these reactions have been severe, requiring medications such as epinephrine. In the most recent of these studies, in fact, one-third of the reported allergic reactions met the criteria for anaphylaxis, highlighting the potential severity of these in-flight events.

Beyond the published studies, we have received over the past decade or so, through e-mail, letter, and telephone correspondence, anecdotal reports of allergic reactions to peanuts/tree nuts during commercial flights, some of which warranted an emergency landing of the aircraft in order to procure proper emergency medical treatment. Such a landing surely poses a heavy financial burden on any airline.

We have also received numerous reports of passengers being denied air transportation due to their food allergy. Many of these reports have also taken the form of formal, written complaints filed with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division. This denial of air transportation has involved passengers being removed from aircraft prior to takeoff, or being prevented from boarding the aircraft at all. This has caused not only significant embarrassment to families affected by food allergy, but has also created a major inconvenience, sometimes impacting entire travel/vacation plans.

In early June, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it was seeking public input on how to make air travel more accessible to people with severe peanut allergies.

Specifically, DOT said it was considering these options: banning peanuts from being served on flights; banning them from being served when there was a peanut-allergic passenger on board; or requiring a peanut-free zone around a person with severe peanut allergy.

DOT did state at the time that Congress had restricted it from using public funds to limit peanuts on aircraft without a scientific study showing passengers can have severe reactions to peanuts from airborne peanut particles, but the department appeared willing to forge ahead anyway.

However, two weeks later the department said it would comply with this requirement. A DOT spokesman told Allergic Living that the agency will still review all comments received. (See you can comment).

According to AFAA, "The U.S. Department of Transportation is accepting public comment for the first of two comment periods until September 23, 2010 regarding proposed rulemaking for "enhancing airline passenger protections". The proposed rules may include whether or not airlines should restrict or limit the serving of peanuts on commercial flights. "

Surprisingly enough, peanut allergies received the most comments by far, 458 from users alone (557 counting moderator responses) compared to just over 100 for most other topics. It's also the first issue to move into to the draft summary phase. Cornell University's Regulation Room program, which has hosted and moderated the public comment period, issued a summary of the conversation as of August 31. Now it wants the public to read the summary and make sure all opinions voiced during the open comment period are sufficiently addressed.

This is a summary of the discussion on the Peanut Allergy post between June 2 and August 31. (On that date, the post was closed to further discussion.) The summary was written by the Regulation Room team based on all the comments people made. This version is a DRAFT. We need YOUR help to make sure that nothing is missing, wrong or unclear.

Important dates:

Sept. 1 – Sept. 16: Comments can be made here on the draft
Sept. 17 : Commenting on the draft summary closed
Sept. 17 – Sept. 22: Regulation Room team reviews comments and revises draft
Sept. 23: Final Summary of Discussion is posted on Regulation Room and submitted to DOT Department of Transportation as a formal comment in the official rulemaking record. (Sept. 23 is the last day of the official commenting period.)

Things to keep in mind as you read through the draft summary and make comments:

1. The goal here is to give DOT Department of Transportation the best possible picture of all the different views, concerns, and ideas that came out during the Peanut Allergy discussion. This is NOT the place to reargue your position or criticize a different one. Focus on whether anything is missing or unclear, not whether you agree or disagree.
2. Rulemaking is not a vote. DOT Department of Transportation is not allowed to decide what to do about peanuts based on majority rule. (Why? See Effective Commenting). Approximate numbers are provided in the summary to give DOT Department of Transportation a sense of the frequency of views, concerns, and ideas.

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